Last related: Sunday Globe Special: Wall Streets Protests Go Worldwide
I'll pick up where I left off:
"Occupy movement, arrests continue to spread across US" October 17, 2011|By Chris Hawley, Associated Press
NEW YORK - Protesters in at least four US cities who were part of a growing anti-Wall Street movement were arrested after refusing to obey police orders to leave public areas, including 175 people in Chicago, where the arrests brought about a new phase of civil disobedience, organizers there said yesterday.
The arrests, which were mostly peaceful, came after a day of protests in cities around the world where thousands gathered to rally against what they see as corporate greed.
With the mouthpiece media making it clear they do not see things that way.
Most of those marches Saturday were largely nonconfrontational, though dozens were arrested in New York and elsewhere when police moved to contain overflowing crowds or keep them off private property. Two officers in New York were injured and had to be hospitalized.
At least one protest overseas grew violent Saturday. In Rome, rioters hijacked what had been a peaceful gathering and smashed windows, tore up sidewalks, and torched vehicles. Repair costs were estimated at $1.4 million, the mayor said yesterday.
We call them agent provocateurs here, thank you.
In addition to the arrests in Chicago, 46 people in Phoenix were arrested for misdemeanor criminal trespass after refusing to leave a park, according to Sergeant Trent Crump, a Phoenix police spokesman. And police said some protesters were arrested after they remained in a Tucson park Saturday past the 10:30 p.m. closing time. An exact number wasn’t available yesterday.
In the Land of the Free where we have the right to peaceably assemble (unlike all those nasty enemies we must overthrow, invade, or occupy)?
At least two dozen people were arrested for refusing to move out of the street at a rally that attracted hundreds to downtown Denver, police said.
In Chicago, about 500 people had set up camp at the entrance to Grant Park on Saturday evening after a protest involving about 2,000. Police said they gave protesters repeated warnings after the park closed at 11 p.m. and began making arrests when they refused to leave.
Officers also asked protesters to take down their tents before beginning to cut them down to clear the area, police said.
The decision to stay in the park “was very much a choice and calculated,’’ said Randy Powell, a 27-year-old student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago who was arrested. “I feel like I had to.’’
The tactic to occupy a city park has been used in other places with city officials often working to accommodate them. For example, protesters in Iowa reached a deal with the mayor of Des Moines to move from the state Capitol to a city park, avoiding arrests. Plans to temporarily evict New York protesters from a park so the grounds could be power-washed were postponed at the request of political leaders Friday.
But Chicago protesters said they’ve come up short. Some organizers said conversations with city officials weren’t encouraging, but they also have yet to apply for permits.
And in Minneapolis, sheriff’s deputies tore down makeshift tents at a county government plaza but made no arrests, Minnesota Public Radio reported. Though the protesters are allowed to stay on the plaza all night, tents are banned.
In New York on Saturday, two dozen were arrested when demonstrators entered a Citibank branch and refused to leave, police said. They asked the branch to close until the protesters could be taken away.
Earlier, as many as 1,000 demonstrators also paraded to a Chase bank branch, banging drums, blowing horns, and carrying signs decrying corporate greed. A few went inside the bank to close their accounts, but the group didn’t stop other customers from getting inside or seek to blockade the business.
Lily Paulina of Brooklyn said she was taking her money out because she was upset that JPMorgan Chase was making billions of dollars, while its customers struggled with bank fees and home foreclosures.
That's EVERY THREE MONTHS, too!!
See: Mortgage Modification Mess
And then they fraudulently seized your homes after they profited off the collapse of the world economy that they in fact caused.
That's why the people are in the streets.
“Chase bank is making tons of money off of everyone … while people in the working class are fighting just to keep a living wage in their neighborhood,’’ the 29-year-old United Auto Workers organizer said.
Police told the marchers to stay on the sidewalk, and the demonstration seemed fairly orderly as it wound through downtown streets.
The day culminated in an event in the city’s Times Square, where thousands of demonstrators mixed with gawkers, Broadway theatergoers, tourists, and police to create a chaotic scene.
“Banks got bailed out, we got sold out!’’ protesters chanted from within police barricades. Police, some in riot gear and mounted on horses, tried to push them out of the square and onto the sidewalks in an attempt to funnel the crowds away.
Throughout the country - from several dozen people in Jackson, Miss., to some 2,000 each in Pittsburgh and Chicago - the protest appeared to gain momentum and diversity. Rallies drew young and old, laborers and retirees.
Meaning it is EVERYONE, my dear readers. I wonder why the newspaper saved that for last.
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Related:
"As Christians stood with Muslims and as white college students stood with a black woman who recently lost two nephews to gun violence, the voice of the Occupy Boston movement sounded more diverse than ever"
Have I made my point yet?
"Protesters don’t have a problem with group’s decentralized nature" October 17, 2011
They were out to change the world, overthrow the establishment, and liberate the poor. But first somebody would have to do something about those bongo drums.
Ha, ha..... ha.
At the Occupy Wall Street protest camp in Manhattan, protesters agonized over what to do about drum players who had turned part of the site into an impromptu dance floor. The neighbors were complaining about the racket. The protesters had tried to put a time limit on the noise, but the drummers were refusing to obey....
Reining in a few pesky percussionists would seem to be an easy task for a movement seemingly on the verge of becoming a political force. But one month after it burst onto the scene and inspired similar protests across the country, the Occupy Wall Street protest remains stubbornly decentralized, complicating everything from enforcing camp rules to writing a national platform.
The commitment to maintaining a consensus on big issues has prevented the group from settling upon a single list of demands to present to the public, protesters say. But they insist that’s OK.
I'm so sick of that repeated lie by the corporate paper. They put out a whole list of 'em.
“When the civil rights movement started, people didn’t come out right out with a big list of demands - they came out in the streets and just said, ‘We’re not going to accept society the way it is,’’’ said Ed Needham, 43, a public relations manager from Cambridge, Mass. “That’s the stage we’re in right now.’’
A sign near the edge of the protest camp Friday echoed that sentiment.
“We’re here, we’re unclear, get used to it!’’ it said.
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"130 Occupy Chicago protesters arrested" October 24, 2011|By Barbara Rodriguez, Associated Press
CHICAGO - Anti-Wall Street demonstrators of the Occupy Chicago movement stood their ground in a downtown park in noisy but peaceful defiance of police orders to clear out, prompting 130 arrests early yesterday, authorities said.
A spokesman for Occupy Chicago, Joshua Kaunert, vowed after the arrests that protests would continue in the city.
“We’re not going anywhere,’’ Kaunert said after the arrests, which took police more than an hour to complete. “There are still plenty of us.’’
Elsewhere in the nation, police reported 11 arrests overnight in the Occupy Cincinnati protests. Police said that those arrested had stayed in that city’s Fountain Square after yesterday’s 3 a.m. closing time, and that each was charged with criminal trespass.
In Philadelphia, yesterday, police arrested more than a dozen protesters who camped out in the middle of the street across from police headquarters. They had marched from the Occupy Philadelphia encampment outside City Hall to police headquarters Saturday to protest alleged police brutality at demonstrations across the nation....
How dare we criticize any other nation over "human rights?"
Occupy Wall Street began a month ago in New York among a few young people, and has grown to tens of thousands around the country and the world.
Protesters inspired by the Occupy movement are camping out in a park across from the New York state Capitol in Albany. There were about 30 tents in Academy Park yesterday, and 23-year-old Chris Scully of Troy said the demonstration would go on “until everything is better.’’
Raising taxes for millionaires is one demand of Albany demonstrators, along with ending US wars abroad, curbing greed and the influence of Wall Street, and guaranteeing rights for gay people....
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"Oakland police clear anti-Wall Street protest, arrest 75" October 26, 2011|Associated Press
OAKLAND, Calif. - Police in riot gear cleared anti-Wall Street protesters from the front of Oakland’s City Hall yesterday morning, leaving a sea of overturned tents, protest signs, and trash strewn across the plaza. Hundreds of officers and sheriff’s deputies from more than a dozen agencies went into the two-week-old encampment with tear gas and beanbag rounds at around 5 a.m., police said.
Seventy-five people were arrested, mostly on suspicion of misdemeanor unlawful assembly and illegal camping. About 170 protesters were at the site, but no one was injured, according to police.
“I’m very pleased with the way things went,’’ interim Police Chief Howard Jordan said following the raid.
Television news footage showed protesters being taken away in plastic handcuffs without incident, though some complained of rough handling by police.
Officers fired tear gas and bean bags when one group of demonstrators pelted officers with rocks and bottles near the camp’s kitchen area, Jordan said.
“It was definitely chaos. People didn’t want to get gassed,’’ said Anthony Owens, 40, a computer programmer from Oakland who was at the scene.
Some people in the camp left as word spread about possible police action, Owens said. Many of the remaining protesters locked arms and shouted as officers surrounded the plaza and moved in.
Witnesses reported seeing smoke rising from the area. The plaza was contained at around 5:30 a.m., city officials said.
The Oakland site was among numerous camps that have sprung up around the country, as protesters rally against what they see as corporate greed and a wide range of other economic issues. The protests have attracted a wide range of people, including college students looking for work and the homeless.
Confirming my earlier analysis.
In Oakland, tensions between the city and protesters escalated last week as officials complained about what they described as deteriorating safety, sanitation, and health issues at the site.
City officials had originally been supportive of protesters.
But the city later warned the protesters that they were breaking the law.
Just proving government is not on our side.
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"Protesters fear more police crackdowns" October 27, 2011|By Associated Press
OAKLAND, Calif. - Displays of police force in Oakland and Atlanta have unnerved some anti-Wall Street protesters.
While demonstrators in other cities have built a working relationship with police and city leaders, they wondered yesterday how long the good spirit would last.
Whatever happened to protect and serve?
The message, meanwhile, from officials in cities where other encampments have sprung up was simple: We’ll keep working with you. Just respect your neighbors and keep the camps clean and safe.
Business owners and residents have complained about assaults, drunken fights, and sanitation problems. Officials are trying to uphold the law while honoring protesters’ free speech rights.
Some cities, such as Providence, are moving ahead with plans to evict activists. But from Tampa, Fla., to Boston, officials say they will continue to try to work with protesters to address problems in the camps.
More: Providence protesters are asked for exit date
Providence says action against protesters is not imminent
In Oakland, tensions reached a boiling point after a sexual assault, a beating, and a fire were reported, city officials said.
Honestly, I'm sick of agent provocateurs and mouthpiece media giving the movement a bad name.
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And a treat on Halloween!
"N.Y., Tenn. foiled in bids to evict protesters" October 31, 2011|Associated Press
NASHVILLE - Tennessee’s governor and his administration have twice sent state troopers to handcuff and haul away Occupy Nashville protesters camped out just steps away from the Capitol. And twice, a relatively obscure local official refused to throw them in jail.
In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo reportedly asked Albany’s mayor last weekend to begin enforcing the 11 p.m. curfew at a park where the protesters have set up camp. Mayor Jerry Jennings declined.
Demonstrators are camping out in public parks in cities across the country, protesting against what they see as corporate greed and inequities in the American economy. Cities are dealing with them differently, some trying to work with protesters to leave peacefully, while others have sent in police to arrest them....
In Portland, Ore., yesterday, police arrested about 30 Occupy Wall Street protesters, dragging and carrying them to vans after they refused to leave a park in an affluent district.
I noticed no bankers were dragged from their suites.
Police in Austin, Texas, made 39 arrests early yesterday as they moved to enforce a new rule banning food tables in the City Hall plaza where protesters have camped out. Most were charged with criminal trespass.
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That seems to be the pattern in AmeriKa.
"9 charged as police end Va. occupation" November 01, 2011|Associated Press
RICHMOND - Police cleared out a downtown plaza early yesterday that had been home to Occupy Wall Street protesters, ordering out dozens of people who had encamped there since Oct. 17 and charging nine with trespassing or obstructing justice.
Officers began clearing the park around 1 a.m. and most of the protesters left peacefully, said police spokesman Gene Lepley. He said the nine were either arrested or cited when they refused to move.
The arrests followed other police crackdowns around the country in places including Oregon, California, Texas, Tennessee, and Atlanta and Denver. Tennessee officials yesterday agreed to stop enforcing a new curfew used to dislodge Occupy Nashville protesters from the grounds around the state Capitol.
The occupation movement in Richmond, inspired by the anti-Wall Street protests in lower Manhattan, had blossomed into a tent city, with dozens scattered around Kanawha Plaza in the city’s financial district. The site also included a library, a volleyball net, and a large blue tarp strung up on three magnolia trees.
One of the protesters, Ira Birch, said the park was surrounded by a “huge line of cops’’ and police cruisers with blue lights flashing. An officer read ordinances that the protesters were violating and told people to gather up their possessions and leave. She described the scene as “pretty peaceful.’’
Birch grabbed her laptop, a modem, and other belongings. But a pile of tents, sleeping bags, and other possessions was left outside the plaza as police cruisers remained on the streets surrounding it. Several cruisers were parked on the plaza at noon, and yellow police tape kept visitors out until public works crews could clean up the space. A bulldozer was called into to clear the trash, furniture, and other items that had piled up over two weeks.
Shades of Israeli treatment of Palestinians.
Mayor Dwight C. Jones visited the Occupy encampment last week and told the protesters he would have city officials meet with protest representatives to discuss the continued occupation of the grass-and-concrete park.
Lepley declined to say who ordered the removal two weeks after the occupation began, calling it a “tactical issue.’’ State police also provided support.
Passing the buck?
Birch said the Occupy protest was surprised and disappointed by the city’s actions.
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"Oakland protest escalates; Leaders target downtown banks, city’s busy port" November 03, 2011|By Lisa Leff and Terence Chea, Associated Press
OAKLAND, Calif. - Thousands of Occupy Wall Street protesters escalated their tactics beyond marches, rallies, and tent camps yesterday and moved to disrupt the flow of goods at the nation’s fifth-busiest port.
Going a little European, 'eh?
Police estimated that a crowd of about 3,000 had gathered at the Port of Oakland by early last night. Some had marched from the city’s downtown, while others had been bused to the port.
I've also had it with the insinuations from the agenda-pushing, controlled-opposition-supporting, mouthpiece media that these protests are somehow illegitimate.
Organizers say they want to halt “the flow of capital’’ at the port.
The union representing port workers said it cannot ask members to participate in the protests because of clauses in its contract, potentially minimizing any disruptions.
Demonstrators as well as city and business leaders expressed optimism that the widely anticipated “general strike’’ would be a peaceful event for a city that became a rallying point last week after an Iraq veteran was injured in clashes between protesters and police.
Gee, that is the FIRST I'VE SEEN OF IT in my NEWSPAPER!
Yeah, HIDE the ANTIWAR ASPECT of the protest along with the police misconduct. From what I've read on blogs, the guy is pretty much a vegetable now.
Update: Adele Carpenter Updates VFP on Scott Olsen
Embattled Mayor Jean Quan, who has been criticized for her handling of the protests, said in a statement that she supported the goals of the protest movement that began in New York City a month ago and spread to dozens of cities across the country....
But she still sends in the thugs, 'er, cops?
The thing is they PROTESTERS are OUT THERE trying to PROTECT and SAVE YOUR UNION and PENSIONS, fascistas!
Protesters planned across the country in solidarity.
In Philadelphia, police arrested about a dozen protesters who were sitting peacefully inside the lobby of the headquarters of cable giant Comcast. Officers moved in after they refused to leave. The protesters were handcuffed and led into police vans as supporters cheered.
In New York, about 100 military veterans marched in uniform through Manhattan to protest what they called police brutality against the Iraq War veteran injured in Oakland.
Yes, we NEED YOU GUYS!!
Along with protesting financial institutions that many within the movement blame for high unemployment and the foreclosure crisis, supporters of the Oakland events are expanding their message to include school closures, waning union benefits, and cuts to social services.
Nurse, teacher, and other worker unions are taking part in the protests, and Oakland is letting city workers use vacation or other paid time to take part in the general strike....
Like I said, it is ALL the PEOPLE!
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"Oakland violence not indicative of movement, Occupy Wall Street protesters say" November 04, 2011|Associated Press
OAKLAND, Calif. - Occupy Wall Street protesters had just a few hours to celebrate what they saw as their biggest victory so far: the peaceful shutdown of the nation’s fifth-busiest port. Then the rioting began.
A day after some protesters clashed with riot police, set fires, and shattered windows in Oakland, demonstrators across the country condemned the violence and wondered whether it was a turn that would destroy their cause.
They are called AGENT PROVOCATEURS and they are PLANTS to DISCREDIT the PROTESTERS and their MESSAGE!
“They don’t speak for the majority of people who were here yesterday,’’ said Hadas Alterman, a college student who was gathering trash at a tent camp near Oakland City Hall. “That was an hour of action, and we were out here for 12 hours, and it was peaceful.’’
The protest outside the port, which reopened yesterday, represented an escalation in tactics as demonstrators targeted a major symbol of the nation’s commerce with peaceful rallies and sit-ins.
The violence that followed, raised questions about whether a movement with no organizational structure and no high-profile leaders can do anything to stop troublemakers.
So far, few cities have reached the level of Oakland, a unique place with a long history of tensions between residents and police.
Bob Norkus at the Occupy Boston camp said the riots did not represent the broader movement and likely would not have a lasting effect on it, either. The movement is still evolving, and mistakes are inevitable, he said.
“It has to be nonviolent, or else it will just end,’’ he said. “We won’t get the support. It doesn’t mean you can’t agitate people. But you can’t also be breaking windows and burning.’’
And when you see some undercover cop or federal agent doing such a thing start yelling at them. Out 'em!!
Police in riot gear arrested more than 80 protesters in downtown Oakland, where bands of protesters took over a vacant building, erected roadblocks, and threw chunks of concrete and firebombs. Five people and several officers were hurt.
The far-flung movement challenging the world’s economic systems and distribution of wealth has gained momentum in recent weeks, with Oakland becoming a rallying point after an Iraq War veteran was injured in clashes with police last week.
Gee, firing a tear gas canister into the kid's head didn't go over to well, did it?
Protesters in Oakland and in other cities viewed the day’s events and the port shutdown as a significant victory.
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"Police arrest more Occupy Atlanta protesters" November 06, 2011|Kate Brumback, Associated Press
Police arrested 20 people after an Occupy Atlanta protest rally in a city park spilled onto the streets and officers converged on them on motorcycles, on horseback and in riot gear....
Anti-Wall Street protesters across the country have been arrested in recent weeks, most for curfew violations. Some of the most intense confrontations between demonstrators and police have been in Oakland, Calif., where two Iraq war veterans have been hurt in separate clashes with officers....
What do you mean the Globe cut that paragraph?
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"Police, Occupy DC group differ on collision" November 07, 2011|Associated Press
WASHINGTON - District of Columbia police and Occupy DC protesters are offering conflicting accounts about a weekend incident in which a motorist struck three protesters near a downtown demonstration.
Police said Saturday that a driver would not be charged for striking the three people Friday evening.
Assistant Police Chief Lamar Greene said at a Saturday news conference that police concluded from talking to two witnesses that the collision was unavoidable. But the three people involved in the crash, who were taken to the hospital and later released, gave a different story.
Heidi Sippel of Vandalia, Ohio, said she, her son, 13, and her wife, Brandy Sippel, were taking part in the demonstration when a silver Lexus sped toward them. She said the driver slowed down, threw up his hands in apparent frustration, and then drove forward, hitting them.
Road rage?
Lieutenant Christopher Micciche of the D.C. police said the driver was not cited because he had a green light when his vehicle struck the three around 10 p.m.
I'll remember that the next time someone steps out in front of me.
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"Woodstock icons entertain Occupy crowd, as protesters ready march on D.C." November 09, 2011|Associated Press
NEW YORK - Occupy Wall Street demonstrations in New York City went old school yesterday as activist musicians David Crosby and Graham Nash delivered a touch of Woodstock, plans for a march to Washington were unveiled, and some participants practiced another kind of democracy: voting.
Demonstrators have been making their voices heard in the nation’s town squares for some time now, and the spirit of protest has remained paramount....
There was an air of nostalgia - and the smell of marijuana - wafting over the crowd as the pair had fans humming along to hits like “Teach Your Children Well,’’ from the 1971 “Deja Vu’’ album, and “Long Time Gone,’’ from their first album....
Yup, the whole crowd is just a bunch of stoners, duh!
I've just about had it with the insulting elitism.
Last month, folk music legend Pete Seeger and 1960s folk singer Arlo Guthrie joined Occupy Wall Street demonstrators in their campaign against corporate greed. Recently, rappers Talib Kweli, Kanye West, and Lupe Fiasco visited protesters in the park. In California, hip-hop heavyweights MC Hammer, Raymond “Boots’’ Riley of The Coup, and local rapper Mistah FAB have stopped by.
Taking the Occupy protest on the road to the country’s elected officials was also on the agenda yesterday.
A small group of Occupy Wall Street activists will start a march today with the hope of arriving in Washington on Nov. 23, the deadline for a congressional committee to decide whether to keep President Obama’s extension of Bush-era tax cuts....
Related: Obama's Reelection Pitch
See why that kind of talk really rings hollow?
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Meanwhile, back in Boston:
"Teachers join protest with ‘flash grade-in’" October 17, 2011|By Alexander C. Kaufman, Globe Correspondent
Grade books, laptops, and stacks of exams in hand, about two dozen Boston public school teachers - fed up with the critics who say that educators work enviably few hours - graded papers in South Station yesterday before marching to the Occupy Boston encampment in Dewey Square.
Wearing red T-shirts that separated them from travelers passing through South Station, the teachers were scattered around as they did schoolwork. The group then marched to Dewey Square where nine planted themselves in front of the tent village, hoping to demonstrate the time-consuming tasks that follow teachers home from work.
Flash grade-ins - demonstrations where groups of teachers gather to work in public - recently occurred at Occupy protests in New York and Los Angeles. Inspired by those demonstrations, the Boston chapter of the Teacher Activist Group, a nationwide network of education advocates, mustered members to march.
“People think I have an easy deal because I get summers off,’’ said Mira Brown, 51, a physics teacher at a Boston public high school she declined to identify. “But I work 78 hours a week.’’
She said grading is normally a solitary Sunday-morning chore.
“I’m not getting as much done,’’ she said, laughing.
Seated on the sidewalk beside her, Joy Kogut, a math teacher at the same school as Brown, said she hopes people will recognize the long hours spent working on days off.
“Inside the train station, a lot of people said very positive things, though I generally get criticism from people who say, ‘Well, you get out of work at 5:30,’ ’’ said Kogut, looking up from her laptop. “I hope maybe some people will think again before making derogatory comments about people’s work.’’
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"In Hub speech, Fed chairman sticks to policy" October 19, 2011|By Megan Woolhouse, Globe Staff
Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke spoke at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston as protesters occupying a patch of land across the street denounced him for failing to clearly articulate a way to fix a broken economy that has left more than 14 million in the United States jobless. In a highly technical speech on bank doctrine and practice, Bernanke rarely touched on the nation’s high level of unemployment, using the word unemployment only once in his 30-minute speech.
“Address the people Bernanke,’’ said protester Nadeem Mazen, whose words were repeated in unison by a crowd of Occupy Boston protesters in an impromptu meeting with reporters. Mazen and others criticized Bernanke’s handling of the financial industry bailout as incompetent, called his day-to-day leadership opaque, and questioned why more has not been done by the Federal Reserve to create jobs, stem home foreclosures, and police the financial industry.
“I think someone in that position doesn’t care what the common people think,’’ said Mazen, an MIT graduate and small business owner. “Their ears are not to the ground, they’re to other large corporations.’’
Bernanke spoke at the Boston Fed’s two-day conference, entitled “Long-Term Effects of the Great Recession,’’ offering lessons from the severe downturn that began in 2008, including the need for the Fed and other central banks to exercise oversight powers over financial institutions....
In a back-handed way the Globe just admitted the recession never ended, and the Fed and central banks is the reason we are in this mess.
Bernanke did not take questions or refer to the protesters outside.
As if they didn't even exist, the elitist scum.
But when asked about the turmoil roiling the Boston Red Sox, he said answering such a question would be “even more controversial than anything I would say’’ about the economy....
Pfffft!
Related: Globe Investigates Collapse
Also see: The Boston Globe's Circulation CQD
Maybe the Globe should investigate that instead.
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"200 gather to protest police violence" October 23, 2011|By Martine Powers, Globe Staff
Protesters amassing behind Boston Police Department headquarters yesterday afternoon were set on proving one thing: Friday night’s multicultural coalition joining Occupy Boston and Occupy the Hood was not a one-time event.
About 200 people gathered yesterday around noon at Southwest Corridor Park to speak out against what they called a rising tide of violence committed by police in Boston and around the country.
The rally was a part of a national day of protest against police brutality, a campaign to shine a spotlight on instances of unnecessary, and sometimes deadly, force used on civilians.
Sadly, they are not our friends. I'm sorry I have sometimes defended them on these pages.
The speakers, almost all of them black, included state Representative Carlos Henriquez, who represents Roxbury and Dorchester, and William Owens, a former state senator.
“All my life I have looked at and watched police brutality,’’ Owens said to the crowd of mostly white men and women sitting in the amphitheater. “I’m telling you, it’s only you, the people, who can stop it.’’
*******************
After about 90 minutes of speeches, the crowd marched toward Roxbury Community College, where one year ago, a 16-year-old was violently subdued by police while being arrested.
See: Boston Cops Play Rough
As they marched in the westbound lanes of Tremont Street, blocking traffic and escorted by police, they chanted “No justice, no peace, no racist police’’ and “The people, united, will never be defeated.’’
One person carried a sign that read “Police brutality makes us sick.’’
In support of the Occupy movement and the day of protest against police brutality, Anonymous, an Internet hacker group, recently broke into the websites of dozens of police organizations - including the Boston Police Department - and posted information about officers’ e-mail accounts on the Internet.
Few of the protesters interviewed had heard about the act of Internet vigilantism.
“I didn’t know that happened, but that’s cool!’’ said Sieh Samura, 33, of Mattapan....
Actually, no, no it's not. Some intelligence operation making protesters look bad is not cool.
Back at Dewey Square last night, about 2,000 gathered, crowding in the spaces among tents, to listen to linguist and professor Noam Chomsky speak.
Touching on a range of topics from political campaigns to the national deficit, corporations, health care, and Occupy the Hood, Chomsky encouraged Bostonians to work together to achieve the change they seek....
If you make the paper you are a controlled-opposition asset, sorry.
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Also see: Sentry challenges come with occupation
And he didn't see the provocateurs?
"Police investigate graffiti spree near Occupy Boston movement" October 24, 2011|By Matt Rocheleau, Globe Correspondent
Boston police say they are investigating a spree of graffiti vandalism reported over the weekend in the financial district, near the area where protesters have camped out in downtown Boston.
Between Friday and Saturday, police received reports of vandalism at 22 addresses where a mix of black, blue and silver-colored paint was sprayed on buildings, doorways, signs and vehicles including on or outside of bank and financial company locations....
Boston police spokesman Officer Eddy Chrispin said many of the reported markings were the letter ‘A’ with a circle drawn around it, which is commonly used as a symbol for anarchy. Some vandalized spots were sprayed with messages including: “Burn the Money,” “End the Fed,” “Tax the Rich,” officials said....
Good way to DISCREDIT some of those messages, cui bono?
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"Three Occupy Boston marchers charged after restaurant scare" by Matt Rocheleau | Globe Correspondent, November 07, 2011
Three masked men were arrested after they allegedly broke off from an Occupy Boston march and stormed into a packed fast-food restaurant in the Back Bay Saturday evening, startling diners and employees, police said yesterday.
You are kidding, right?
Officers riding bicycles along Newbury Street while monitoring the Occupy Boston march which started from the group’s camp in Dewey Square at about 5 p.m. followed the three men when they separated from the 50-person procession and sprinted onto Clarendon Street, Boston Police said in a statement.
Oh, this is STINKING ALREADY!!
Wearing face masks and dark clothing and carrying homemade signs, the trio turned on to Boylston Street as pedestrians along the sidewalk dodged out of their way, according to the statement. The three men then entered the Burger King on Boylston Street.
The signs, which were made from white bedsheets wrapped around 3-foot pieces of wood, were kept by police as evidence. They read: “Fight for your rights’’ and “Capitalism is the crisis, steal everything,’’ according to the police narrative of the incident.
As officers questioned the men outside the restaurant, according to the police statement, they chanted boisterously, causing passersby to stop and watch, “in an attempt to turn the growing crowd against the officers.’’
The men yelled: “Police brutality’’ and “This is how people are treated in a police state,’’ the statement said.
But the cops didn't actually do anything to them, right?
Yeah, this is a HUGE STEAMING STINKER, if you know what I mean.
Jeffrey Nunes, 17, and Sean Cormier, 21, both of Westport, and Kiearn Lyons, 17, of Norwood were charged with disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace....
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Also see: Harvard locks protesters out of yard
Occupy Harvard left up to students
Poets add rhyme, reason, humor to camp
"Protesters prepare for a winter siege; As if cold rain wasn’t enough, Occupy Boston braces for a hit of snow" October 29, 2011|By Mark Arsenault, Globe Staff
After riding out a cold wet night, protesters at Occupy Boston tried to dry out yesterday, while fortifying their tent city for the first roar of winter weather, expected this weekend....
And here winter was 7 WEEKS AWAY!!!
Rain, snow and wind are expected this weekend, a problem that demonstrators do not have to deal with at, say, Occupy Maui....
I've been finding that the subtle elite insults warm me with anger.
The Occupy movement - camp-ins held to protest corporate greed, wealth inequity, and the influence of money in politics - began with Occupy Wall Street in New York City in September. The Boston protest that began a month ago had encountered mostly pleasant autumn weather, but after withstanding a police raid and mass arrests, the local demonstration is facing another test of its staying power: cold, long nights, and snow....
In this era of global warming? You've got to be kidding, Globe.
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"Occupy Boston rides out storm mostly undamaged" October 31, 2011|By Matt Rocheleau, Globe Correspondent
The weekend’s early wintry storm caused a few tents at the Occupy Boston protest to collapse, and several people were transported from the camp at Dewey Square to shelters.
But by and large, occupiers said they were able to keep warm and dry through the brunt of Saturday’s nor’easter.
Marking the Boston movement’s one-month anniversary yesterday with balloons, cake, music, and dancing, protesters said they will continue to winterize their makeshift tent city and have no plans to leave as colder weather sets in....
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Related: As winter comes, Occupy Boston should hone its economic message
A sinful 'Occupation' - Boston.com
What is sinful is purchasing a Globe every day.
Next Day Update:
"Oakland police ask protesters to leave" by Associated Press, November 12, 2011
OAKLAND, Calif. - Citing a strain on limited crime-fighting resources, police officers pleaded with Occupy Oakland protesters yesterday to leave their encampment at the City Hall plaza where a man was shot and killed the night before.
The shooting occurred the same day a 35-year-old military veteran apparently shot himself to death in a tent at an Occupy encampment in Burlington, Vt.
Oh, is THAT EVER A COMMENTARY on the AGENDA-PUSHING LIES served forth by the MOUTHPIECE MEDIA of a WAR-PROMOTING EMPIRE! ANOTHER MILITARY SUICIDE!
Those incidents and tensions at other camps have put pressure on leaders around the country to take decisive action to bring the protests under control.
HMMMMMMMMM!!
CUI BONO, 'eh?
In Salt Lake City, police say the body of a man in his 40s was found inside his tent yesterday morning. A cause of death was not available, but authorities say it did not immediately appear to be foul play.
Then WTF?
A guy dies of natural causes? Blame the protesters!!
Police Chief Chris Burbank says the group will have to pack up its tents by this evening or risk arrest. Daytime protests still will be allowed.
Yeah, do it late on a Saturday so it stays out of the Sunday papers.
Organizers say they do not plan to leave.
In Oakland, the Oakland Police Officer’s Association, which represents rank-and-file police, issued an open letter to protesters saying the camp is pulling officers away from crime-plagued neighborhoods.
I didn't know Oakland's police were investigating financial houses and government offices, did you?
A preliminary investigation into the gunfire in Oakland suggests it resulted from a fight between two groups of men at or near the encampment, police Chief Howard Jordan said. Investigators do not yet know if the men were associated with Occupy Oakland, he said.
Ah, the HALLMARKS of AGENT PROVOCATEURS!!
Protesters said there was no connection between the shooting and the camp....
But the AmeriKan media makes the link anyway.
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